Monday, July 27, 2009

Sorry A-merry-ca, I am not learning from your so called racial "teachable moment". Well, I take that back. I am learning, but I am guessing it's not what you wanted me to learn

Now I said I wouldn't comment on this story until more tapes came out revealing what actually happened on Ware street in Cambridge. And, low and behold, tapes from the 911 calls during the incident were released today. Those tapes, my friends, were telling. ("Teachable moment" my ass! )

"I just saw it from a distance, and this older woman was worried, thinking somebodies breaking in someones house and they've been barging in,..... She interrupted me, and that's when I noticed. Otherwise, I probably wouldn't have noticed it at all, to be honest with you. So I was just calling because she was a concerned neighbor, I guess."

See field, and you were killing that poor woman. Calling her Mrs. Kravitz and all types of names for being a nosey racist. Just admit you were wrong. Not so fast. First of all, I still think she is a nosey ass racist, and I still think she is full of shit. Let's make one thing clear: The reason she felt a need to call 911 in the firt place is because she saw TWO BLACK MEN TRYING TO PUSH THEIR WAY INTO A HOUSE. PERIOD! "In the call, Lucia Whalen reports seeing 'two larger men, one looked kind of Hispanic, but I'm not really sure, and the other one entered, and I didn't see what he looked like at all."' Soooo let me see now, you first said you saw two men but you didn't see what one of them looked like? Hmmmmm, so what Ms. Whalen is saying is that when she saw the men she could not really describe them. Fine. But could she describe their race? I submit to you that she could and it's why she made the call in the first place. Which is why, in spite of her attorney's promulgations to the contrary, Ms. Whalen still needs a "teachable moment" in my book. Yet her attorney is screaming bloody murder because people continue to characterize her client as a racist; when, according to her, she never made mention of the suspect's race in the 911 call. Yes, but she made the call, and what do you think triggered the call in the first place? She said one of the men looked "kind of Hispanic". Oh gee, thank god she didn't say he was black......"kind of Hispanic". I will leave that one to hang out there a little.

Anywhooo, here is the quote from CNN that has my racialist antennas just buzzing at the tips:

"Attorney Wendy Murphy, who represents Whalen, also categorically rejected part of the police report that said Whalen talked with Sgt. James Crowley, the arresting officer, at the scene.

"Let me be clear: She never had a conversation with Sgt. Crowley at the scene,' Murphy told CNN by phone. 'And she never said to any police officer or to anybody 'two black men.' She never used the word 'black.' Period.'

She added, 'I'm not sure what the police explanation will be. Frankly, I don't care. Her only goal is to make it clear she never described them as black. She never saw their race. ... All she reported was behavior, not skin color.'

Hmmmm, never spoke to an officer at the scene contrary to police reports. And there sure doesn't seem like there should have be a sense of urgency when the officer's responded to this call. Maybe that's why officer Jim Crow (thanks Rippa) went in alone. Which kind of shoots down his account of things doesn't it?

"In the police report, filed by Crowley, he says he spoke with Whalen outside the home before he approached Gates' house. 'She went on to tell me that she observed what appeared to be two black males with backpacks on the porch of Ware Street,' the report says. 'She told me that her suspicions were aroused when she observed one of the men wedging his shoulder into the door as if he was trying to force entry.'"

As my people from down South like to say: "Somebody's milk ain't clean"

I wonder how many people in the MSM will try to get to the bottom of who is lying here? I am guessing a big fat zero. Why? Because we have all moved on, that's why. The "teachable moment" has passed, and it's recess time.

225 comments:

The officer at the scene had to decide what to do on the spot. The people talking about what he should or should not have done are monday morning quarterbacks. As for the neighbor lady, I tend to be believe what she said in the 911 call.

sure this is reason for pause Field, but you still aren't hitting the nail that kills the argument. Nosy, scary. old lady calls the cops, normal. Cop shows up and questions people in house, reasonable. Cop gets blessed out by dude who owns house, justifiable. Cop ARRESTS dude for insulting him... inexcusable!if he was truly trying to protect and serve, he should have just walked away and the story is over. In stead he was trying to punish and show authority... where is that in the job description? That is where the cop showed his colors.

Field,It may be a "teachable moment" if somehow they can prove that the Policeman falsified his report by gathering ALL the facts including the entire 911 tape. Have been trying to research the Attorney that was hired by the caller but have not come up with details yet.

This racist cop is full of shit. He snatched him of his house even though he identified himself to be a resident/owner of that house. Law enforcement is starting to enact fascist laws at the local and state levels. "He had an attitude" is now on the books ya'll.

This racist woman is full of shit. Kind of Hispanic.

Asking somebody if I would want my neighbor to call the cops if someone was breaking into your home is not really the right question to be asking in this case, where this hood is in a closely watched Harvard academic setting. The bigger question is why this racist know what her neighbor looked like?

Somebody said on another forum "oh, his back was turned". OKAY.

It's 2009 and these Harvard folks are very savvy and slick. She knew she would be taped during that call and so here saying he was Kind of Hispanic LOL was code for "dark skinneded"/"black"/"same thing". The racist woman spoke to the racist cop and he was determined to straighten this wayward nigger out.

So the neighbor spoke to the cop. Heck this whole incident is missing a few paragraph.

Somebody is lying and it is not the person who reside at the home and was arrested. Sound like a coverup,

Mr R, kiss my ass from the South. Pres was too cowardless to say it, but I will.

O ness can also go somewhere too. Now he wants to play makeup..

Pucker up and have a bear.. Forget the meeting. Where was all this kissing up and when he refuse to speak at Black university. I learn alot this past month from Mike to Prof Gates and the trail to the white house..

A small time racist cops have a better hand than the, multiple honor Prof and Pres of these parted states.

Field I love you, but your dead wrong about Mrs Whalen being a racist...I heard the 911 call and she only describe the suspect race after being prompted by the operator...only then did she hesitantly say hispanic...but that not the issue here...the bigger issue is that jim crow filed a false police report and every one just glanced over that because thanks to Barack this has been a teachable moment and it's time to move on. And I'm really pissed at that, I would love a full investigation into this now. Another thing I found troubling was tha crow requested back after fully knowing that Gates was the lawfull resident...very fishy

I keep telling y'all this is the year of exposing. The blinds eyes are opening up. Thank you Jesus!

Jody:

Where you been? When I get a chance I got something I need to ask you a question.

Now back to the topic:

The cop lied and she's lying too. She saw that luggage and limousine sitting out front too. Is she really an elderly woman, she sounded younger.

MSM magnified and highlighted it for political purposes. Please don't forget that MSM is owned by conservative corporations. The whole thing is gone backfire too. Take a good look at the cop's face in his first interview, he looked a little worried. Yup!

Attorney Wendy Murphy, who represents Whalen, also categorically rejected part of the police report that said Whalen talked with Sgt. James Crowley, the arresting officer, at the scene.

"Let me be clear: She never had a conversation with Sgt. Crowley at the scene," Murphy told CNN by phone. "And she never said to any police officer or to anybody 'two black men.' She never used the word 'black.' Period."

But look what the lying liar put in his report in a detailed description of what transpired at the house....

I agree with comment 14--love your blog, but you're dead wrong on Ms. Whalen. She even mentioned that she saw luggage and thought they could possibly live there. If I were Gates, I'd want her to do exactly what she did (and that's basically what he said). I totally believe that it's possible not to see race from a distance--happens to me all the time.

I think you should focus on the real troublemaker--James Crowley. He clearly lied on that report, and justice must be served.

mmmm, sounds like the shi* is gonna hit the fan. So Crowley lied on his police report...okay, now I want to see the press conference with his black co-workers backing him up on this one. The simple fact is that police think they're God....and they don't like people having the nerve to question their motives. I tried to leave the scene of an accident that my sister was involved in once to call the Lieutenant (the responding white cop was badgering my sister...she was pregnant at the time...I was not involved in the accident but came after my sister called me) and the cop told me to stay where I was and don't dare get on that phone. I made the call anyway. He would have had to shoot me to stop me, but i'm sure he wouldn't have had a problem eliminating the world of another fiend negro. I don't see how Crowley will be able to sit in the presence of the President and drink a beer knowing that he is a proven liar.

"I totally believe that it's possible not to see race from a distance--happens to me all the time."

That's part of the point, she did see race - "Kind of Hispanic", meaning not white and normal. That's why she reacted the way she did. She is just as guilty as Crowley, and she should be explored just the same.

He said! She said!….. I submit the Professor was the smarted person on the scene, but failed to take advantage of his mental superiority! A simple: “Heh good look-in out….You’re absolutely right …I could be a burglar….great job….Let me buy you a beer sometime”

If the egotistical fuck kept running his mouth, I (I have been a Police Officer) would have made a bracketed arrest (tight cuffs, scruff of the neck grab) and “tiptoe” him into a cruiser.

The Professor is a member of the ‘NIGGERAZI” and failed to pass muster or use his noggin.

She only said kind of hispanic after she was asked twice whether the men were white, black or hispanic by the operator. She said she didn't know about the other man. I don't think there's anything wrong with that. These can be hard to judge because of past racial experiences, but not everything has racial connotations. Crowely on the other hand is the asshole.

Field,Of course, there are many articles with Wendy J. Murphy mentioned but this one has a photo and an email address at end of article. This article is on another subject but since it did have photo and email address I'm sending it to you.AlohaMakaii

I'm the cheese & the cheese stands alone. I think it's pitiable but irrelevant if the 911 caller in this particular incident is racist. But if I agreed with Field all the time, he'd be the first to advise me to have my head examined.

"She only said kind of hispanic after she was asked twice whether the men were white, black or hispanic by the operator. She said she didn't know about the other man. I don't think there's anything wrong with that.."

@Anon. 10:58PM, and the others who are taking this position. Stay with me on this. (See, I think this can be a teachable moment)

My contention is that the reason she called 911 in the first place is because the men looked like they did. I understand that she didn't readily give their race to the 911 operator. So what? The fact is, she wouldn't have called 911 foro men who happened to be white. That's all I am saying. And if Ms. Whalen is honest with herself she would say the same thing.

See, I would have a lot of respect for Ms. Whalen if she just came out and said: "Hey you know what, I thought they were black, and because those people have a tendency to commit more crimes, I felt compelled to call the 911. You just can't be too sure these days."

You see it's like this: I respect an honest racist more than I do a lying one.

As for Mr R.. I guess that stand for Mr. Republican..Did you leave your wife and kids on Father day to go get a piece of Brazil bottie or u the Palin type (liar, knock up teenage mother, or "like of soccer Mom"), aka wink, wink.

The world is laughing at your conservative views..anymore footie under the bathroom stalls.

Anymore stealing of people retirement funds.. The lists go on.

Ha. Ha..hopefully the China and Middle East call in those loans real quick and we definitely see who is Nigga and who is the slave.

Black is used to being broke.. 400years of being degraded but we hold the highest office is the world..

Why do some fools keep posting on here saying the witness spoke to the cop? Morons Her lawyer told a CNN report she never spoke to the Mr.Crowley....Damn why is that so hard for some you to understand he "LIED".

The cop was worried too, you could see it all in his face, and so was his chief. They know he messed up. That's why they're all of sudden gone have a little police training on how to deal with these type of situations. Smh!

BTW, the President never really took back what he said, he just said that his wording was wrong. However, he still feels that it could have been handled differently. Same thing, just being tactful and speaking it in a language white folks understand.

Naw ho cakes dat ain't it at all.The world laughin at ya'll American black folk.

Every election ya'll get on ya'll is knees for the Democrat party and ya'll show ya'll is love.Yet after the elections ya'll get cock slapped in the face and laughed at by that uncle tom in the Whitehouse and the rest of the Democrat party.

GrannyStandingforTruth said... BTW, the President never really took back what he said, he just said that his wording was wrong. However, he still feels that it could have been handled differently. Same thing, just being tactful and speaking it in a language white folks understand.

What kind of black man would call a cop after he done racial profile a brutha and tell him he's a good man and a fine officer?

field negro, you posted,"Hey you know what, I thought they were black, and because those people have a tendency to commit more crimes, I felt compelled to call the 911. You just can't be too sure these days."

Saying, blacks have a tendency to commit more crimes, is not racist, sir, it's just a fact.

Field,This story is TOO good to be true. Didn't know Wendy Murphy(former NFL Cheerleader) had written a book with a forward by Bill O'Reilly and WAS still claiming the Duke guys were guilty even 6 MONTHS after the A.G. had dropped the charges! One can do a search of her name on amazon.com and see that her book And Justice for Some is already marked down for quick sales. Tells a lot about Ms. Whalen that she would hire such a person. Just my opinion.quote from a review:"Even in her interviews flogging this book, she's claiming that the Duke LaCrosse players are guilty - 6 months after the attorney general said they are the innocent victims of a frame.

Murphy is one of the people that perpetrated that frame. She should be shunned by anyone serious about justice. This collection of anecdotes of criminals who've been set free and re-offended does nothing to rehabilitate her." copied from review on Amazon that 17 of 24 found helpful?

Come work a beat in a large city and see what real police work is.Its not like tv kiddies.Ive seen plenty of black officers hand out ass beatings and use the "n" word to other blacks.They know what they are dealing with.

See, I would have a lot of respect for Ms. Whalen if she just came out and said: "Hey you know what, I thought they were black, and because those people have a tendency to commit more crimes, I felt compelled to call the 911. You just can't be too sure these days."

You see it's like this: I respect an honest racist more than I do a lying one. - FN

If you just go where you want to go instead of following the evidence (or at least reserving judgment), then you aren't any better than anyone else.

all you ignorant pontificators claiming racist this and racist that, just so you know, there's no such thing as race. go ahead and sound like a moron and try and define "race". So..when folks talk about racist this and racist that, you first have to be able to define "race" which is not a term that applies to human beings. Race is a quasi-scientific term first used hundreds of years ago to describe superficial traits as related to geographic diversity of species, it has no meaning, no relavance in the discussion of human beings. It's as useless a term as "black" or "white" to categorize folks. If one uses the term "black" to identify with the historical struggle of a people of African origin aginst enslavement, oppression and prejudice, a struggle that must and rightly continue to this day and beyond, than yes, it is a term of pride and identification. But, as a categorization of human beings, it is inadequate, incorrect, and when all said, black, white, brown, these terms are insulting in trying to decribe any individual's complexity. So, yes, the caller, the cop, every poster here, we all see color, and yes, the term "black" is used cause that's how most the world see's it. But as the recently sadly departed M. Jackson once so aptly sang, "I'm not goning to spend my life being a color". but, ya'll knew this already. right.

Although I don't have any problem with people identifying me by my "color" (white), I think it's stupid to draw conclusions about me because of my color without at least knowing me a little bit.******************

Then whites better learn to not judge Blacks if you demand that you be treated as an inividual by Black people. Oh wait Whites (yeah I'm generalizing)can't do it, since they have been stereotyping us for centuries. Guess will keep seeing you as a racist monolith while you all continue to write books and use politicans to explain the Black monolith.

The lady who made the phone call sound's as if she is well educated, but, yet, she has been working in the same restaurant for Fifteen year's!

They showed the lady's lawyer and GRETA SUSTERAN in front of GATE'S home, and the lady who made the phone call was suppose to be hid behind a pole, when GATE'S was trying to get in his house! from where she was standing, their was no way she couldn't see the color of GATE'S and the other man skin tone! no way!!!

I don't know what's going on but, I'm sure the President has found out what really happened, I'm sure by now he has a background report on CROWLEY! and I believe he will do what ever it take's to prove that he was right about the statement he made!

I don't think it will be long before the black policeman tell the truth, but, that black policewoman well, I think from her attitude, she will stand by CROWLEY if she saw him beating a innocent black person in a wheel chair!

You and Mr R must be cell mates. I see Mr R is a wannabe down black man, now, and practicing his ebonics. Dang! Frank and all this time I thought you was hard holding it down for your turf. How you gone let a dumb country bumpkin come and take over your turf? I thought you was the resident racist on this block. Hmmm...I guess not.

Hey, y'all Frank done let Mr R make him out of one of those girlie men. That's alright Frank, Mr R gone get served something real nice, if he don't quit trying to have a convo with me, because I told him once, don't talk to me until he has something of substance to talk about.

Crowley introducing the two Black men with Backpacks into his report is standard operating procedure for Whites when they invent the phantom Black man to justify their gross misdeeds.

In Boston--can’t forget Charles Stewart, Susan Smith, the idiot white woman who carved a B in her face, Julia Razocky who lied about a carjacking to go to Disney world and the beat goes on. It’s amazing to me that without fail a White person is given credence for the black phantom and is offered sympathy and support; however there is no racial equivalent of a Black person’s Phantom White Menace. Not only has it never happened, no one would believe said Black person and they would be met with outright scorn.

"What kind of black man would call a cop after he done racial profile a brutha and tell him he's a good man and a fine officer?A Damn Good President!"

That's right babygirl! Amen!

Lucia Whalen saw the suitcases and the limousine with two big men, you know cause all black men look big and scary but then she didn't see but one of the two men. Yet, Gates is a small man. (she can't even get her story straight)

She was so alarmed that she stood out on the sidewalk the whole time watching them. Lucia got to be a little stupid or one brave white woman. Most white women would have stayed in the house and peeped out the curtains if they really thought it was two burglars because those two big men as she referred to them might try to do something to them. But nah, Missy Lucia she stood on the curb the whole time watching and waiting for the police to come and even stayed to take pictures. Oh Lawd! If they were burglars who is going to stand out on the curb the whole time and let the burglars know they watching them?

Police officers and departments lie and support each other in their lies DAILY! In many instances, police behavior is just as criminal as the criminals they are suppose to protect us from.

Many of them are former military, and middle-class fellas who have a bug up their ass.

Black officers have a peculiar position in the ranks of the blue. Many black officers feel (blindly) obliged to support the ethical immorality in police departments and as they've accepted along with the job, becoming one of the "fraternal" brothers in law enforcement...which means "you go along to get along".

Leon is a perfect example.

...and just for clarification, there are some who just want to do their job with honor and integrity, and go home alive to enjoy life with their family like anybody else.

To top it off, her lawyer stresses that Lucia is of Portuguese descent and olive skin. Well, I'll say, I guess, they're not aware of black history and how much the Portuguese just loves them some black folks, huh? Smh!

Calm down ANON:11:26 we are not (MORON'S) LOL, we know CROWLEY told a big FAT STUPIDLY LIE! and the President know's it as well, and so doe's the Police CHIEF, that police department has STUPIDLY people working in the public trying to arrest a poor, innocent, cane carrying black man in his own house! now, how STUPIDLY is that!

Fox is involved in this too. Oh, that automatically spells setup and racism anytime they got a hand in it. That's We Make It Up News history. Greta is racist too with her lying behind. She must have gotten a promotion from reporting missing blonds and move up a peg on the totem pole at We Make It Up News.

Anonymous 11:26 is one of those white in denial cases. She/he does not want to believe that they have racist in their midst that do bad things to black people and get away with it. After all, she believes that they are pure and innocent. Blacks are the only bad people, the criminal element, the undesirables in her/his book. Their afraid to face the truth, because it's painful and it destroys their fantasy of being superior. Smh!

I'm so sick of that attitude. People are people. There is no difference. Their either good or bad, and that's the bottom line. It depends on their way of thinking.

Let me play devil's advocate here. What if this weren't Mr. Gates, and she didn't call assuming that just because the perps were black, for the sake of this argument mind you they will be black, they were somehow related to Gates and the house was burglarized, she would still be up sh*t creek without a paddle.

I don't see anything wrong with her calling police. I would want my neighbors to do the same. My son's grandmother was watching my son alone one night, and a friend of the family that we all knew save her, came to the door. She's white and he's black. She didn't open the door. I'm glad for it. While I don't have strangers coming to my door, she didn't know him, we didn't address it with her and I'm glad she didn't assume because it could've been a psychopath. I didn't think it was racist, I thought it was well done. When she meets him, and she knows him, but she still doesn't open the door, then we've got a problem, but not knowing him especially because it was dark outside, I completely agree with her choice. I say this because sometimes it just is what it is. That's why this woman calling is really not the issue to me. The issue starts with these two men.

Officer Crowley had the nerve to stand up on national tv and talk about how disappointed he was in the President for not taking up for him. Said the President needed to get the facts before he commented. I wonder did it ever occur to him that he more than likely already had them. Don't he know that Presidents get brief on stuff daily and watch the news too. Well, at least this one does, the last one didn't even read a newspaper. I guess, he didn't think about the fact that our President used to be a lawyer too and probably saw through the lie. Nah, he decided to take it one step further and get all of his blue comrades to stand up and support him on national television instead of letting it go and moving on. Yup, instead of dropping it and moving on, he was bashing in the sunlight. He is now, hanging, swinging, and dangling. Little weasle!!!

The President probably called his college roommate Gov.Duval Patric and ask him the 411.How can a guy who walks with a cane since he was a kid now look like Tupac, Chuck D, and "Catcher" Freeman all rolled up into one.

Field"@Anon. 10:58PM, and the others who are taking this position. Stay with me on this. (See, I think this can be a teachable moment)

My contention is that the reason she called 911 in the first place is because the men looked like they did. I understand that she didn't readily give their race to the 911 operator. So what? The fact is, she wouldn't have called 911 foro men who happened to be white. That's all I am saying. And if Ms. Whalen is honest with herself she would say the same thing."

i see your point. and it could very well be that. i dont understand how the call went down, how can you see two people apparently breaking in but not be sure what they look like? and how could you miss the cab? at the same time though, i also think if she was worried that some black/brown men were breaking in, she would've made the race of the men more clear in the call. even without realising it. instead she just seemed confused and not sure if she should be calling in the first place. thats just the way i see it. the old lady who she made the call on behalf of though..pretty safe to say she was the one who was racist. thats who the attention should be focused on. and i dont think lucia necessarily got herself a lawyer because shes trying to hide something; if she lives in that neighbourhood shes probably rich enough to have her own lawyer on speed dial. crowley and old lady who first saw it are the culprits in my book.

Usually agree, but I think it is kinda lame on this one. I guess if I see a broken door on a nearby house and see "shadows" inside moving around, I'll come back here and post first before calling the po-po, lest I be accused of being racist. Oh, and I'll thrown in the income and race of the homeowner, just to cover the bases.

Cambridge isnt Philly, but it ain't the suburbs either. 9 times out of 10, a broken front door is a decent indication of a break-in, unless you see a little old truthful granny with a sore shoulder standing inside...

C'mon now field. You have always seemed to be a reasonable guy. There was, at least I heard, a Hispanic & Black cop on the scene. Till we hear their versions, you don't know. I think you're just being a bit out of line here. And if they DON'T talk, you'll know the asshole cop was right in doing what he did. I'll say this... the two times I've been handcuffed, they NEVER cuffed me with my hands in the front.

"I guess if I see a broken door on a nearby house and see "shadows" inside moving around, I'll come back here and post first before calling the po-po, lest I be accused of being racist."

There was no "broken door" and "shadows" inside. They were trying to get in the house, and were outside for all the world to see. I am quite sure they weren't acting suspicious. (Why would he at his own house?)

A driver and his client. The man is damn near 60! And he is what, 5'7' and about a buck fifty soaking wet. :)

Sorry, I am not buying it. White man and his driver, no 911 call, no po po.

He’s a superstar, one of the best-known and most highly acclaimed faculty members at the nation’s most prestigious university. A few years ago, when he made noises about leaving, Harvard moved heaven and earth to keep him. The incident that led to his arrest occurred as he was coming home from the airport after a trip to China for his latest PBS documentary. Following the traumatic encounter, he repaired to Martha’s Vineyard to recuperate. This is how the man rolls.

Obama’s choice of words might not have been politic, but he was merely stating the obvious when he said the police behaved “stupidly.” Gates is 58, stands maybe 5-feet-7 and weighs about 150 pounds. He has a disability and walks with a cane. By the time Sgt. James Crowley made the arrest, he had already assured himself that Gates was in his own home. Crowley could see that the professor posed no threat to anybody.

But for the sake of argument, let’s assume that Crowley’s version of the incident is true—that Gates, from the outset, was accusatory, aggressive and even obnoxious, addressing the officer with an air of highhanded superiority. Let’s assume he really recited the Big Cheese mantra: “You have no idea who you’re messing with.”

I lived in Cambridge for a year, and I can attest that meeting a famous Harvard professor who happens to be arrogant is like meeting a famous basketball player who happens to be tall. It’s not exactly a surprise. Crowley wouldn’t have lasted a week on the force, much less made sergeant, if he had tried to arrest every member of the Harvard community who treated him as if he belonged to an inferior species. Yet instead of walking away, Crowley arrested Gates as he stepped onto the front porch of his own house.

Apparently, there was something about the power relationship involved—uppity, jet-setting black professor versus regular-guy, working-class white cop—that Crowley couldn’t abide. Judging by the overheated commentary that followed, that same something, whatever it might be, also makes conservatives forget that they believe in individual rights and oppose intrusive state power.

There was a similar case of collective amnesia at the Sonia Sotomayor hearings. Republican senators, faced with a judge who follows precedent and eschews making new law from the bench, forgot that this is the judicial philosophy they advocate. The odd and inappropriate line of questioning by Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., about Sotomayor’s temperament was widely seen as sexist, and indeed it was. But I suspect the racial or ethnic power equation was also a factor—the idea of a sharp-tongued “wise Latina” making nervous attorneys, some of them white male attorneys, fumble and squirm.

Is a man of Gates’ station entitled to puff himself up and remind a policeman that he’s dealing with someone who has juice? Is a woman of Sotomayor’s accomplishment entitled to humiliate a lawyer who came to court unprepared? No more and no less entitled, surely, than all the Big Cheeses who came before them.

Yet Gates’ fit of pique somehow became cause for arrest. I can’t prove that if the Big Cheese in question had been a famous, brilliant Harvard professor who happened to be white—say, presidential adviser Larry Summers, who’s on leave from the university—the outcome would have been different. I’d put money on it, though. Anybody wanna bet?

field negro said... "I guess if I see a broken door on a nearby house and see "shadows" inside moving around, I'll come back here and post first before calling the po-po, lest I be accused of being racist."

There was no "broken door" and "shadows" inside. They were trying to get in the house, and were outside for all the world to see. I am quite sure they weren't acting suspicious. (Why would he at his own house?)

A driver and his client. The man is damn near 60! And he is what, 5'7' and about a buck fifty soaking wet. :)

Sorry, I am not buying it. White man and his driver, no 911 call, no po po.

Fair enough. We shall see what we shall see. If I'm wrong, I owe you a 3 lb smoked on the scales redfish, but I get an original Philly steak sammich if you're in error.

For all here who want to make exuses for the cop, the woman, whoever else was involved in this arrest. Let me remind you of one thing:GATES DID NOTHING ILLEGAL!! THERE WAS NO GROUNDS FOR ARREST!!! Even by Crowley's description. Yelling at a cop is not illegal. Being rude is not illegal. To be disorderly, the legal definition is you have to be disrupting the peace of THE PUBLIC! Gates pissed off a cop. That does not equate.

"Even by Crowley's description. Yelling at a cop is not illegal. Being rude is not illegal. To be disorderly, the legal definition is you have to be disrupting the peace of THE PUBLIC! Gates pissed off a cop. That does not equate.

So, for all of you who want to defend the cop. Defend that.

7:27 AM"

Come on down to Mississippi. Brown, black, white, yellow, or rainbow, you'll get a stick upside your head if you try that shit.

GrannyStandingforTruth said... Officer Crowley had the nerve to stand up on national tv and talk about how disappointed he was in the President for not taking up for him. Said the President needed to get the facts before he commented. I wonder did it ever occur to him that he more than likely already had them.

Granny may be getting forgetful at times or shes letting her paranoid obsessions of FOX NEWS cloud her memeroy.

Obama said he didn't know all the facts .Yet he made a stupid statement and he had to backtrack.

Sammy said... MR.R said "When is Obama and the Democrats gonna put a end to racial profiling?"

What is the point in making such really stupid comments?

Yeah it is stupid to think Democrats would do that for ya'll.Remember ya'll, they have the power and the numbers to do anything they want.

Hey Field, am I the only one catching the Irony of Saturday Nite Major League Baseball??? I know you A-murder-can Knee-Grows don't watch baseball, but FYI, on Saturday Nites, select teams wear Throwback Knee-Grow Leage Uniforms... Ironic, because in most of the games the only Knee-Grows wearin em are from Central or South A-murder-ca....Gotta run, looks like a Knee-Grows tryin to break into his own house...

"Kind of Hispanic" means "looks like he doesn't belong here." Fear of " not my kind." Some observations, which have already been made by several of your able commentators. (1) Both men could have acted better. (2) There was classism at work here (thanks, Hathor) and (3) bottom line, and I'm speaking as a white, middle-aged Southern man--if Gates had been white, nosy neighbor would NOT have called the police, and if Gates had been white, the police would NOT have arrested him no matter how mad he got at them. In some ways, this whole incident was the worst kind of racism: not the vicious, string-em-up kind, that every civilized person now abhors, but the deep, unacknowledged fear of "the other" that most white people have buried in them that jumps out at the slightest opportunity. For God's sake, are we ever going to treat each other like equal human beings in this "all men are created equal" country?

Field,You are on to something! Where are the sociolinguists when we need them? This is a teachable moment for sure. Topic: the actions that we engage in "unconsciously" and the language that betrays us.

The bottom line is that Sgt. Crawley seems to have "framed" his report in terms that would explain the arrest: suspicious black males. I notice too that no one has brought up his feeling overwhelmed by all that shouting. Think: Blacks are disruptively noisy.

By the way, what's with the leisurely timeframe of the witnesses, Ms. Whaley and the older white female neighbor? Were they together in the older woman's home at the time the "large" male driver exited and drove away?

On a tangential, yet relevant note, if we want to make more sense of careful language like Ms. Whalen's versus body language which no one but the onlooker can see, did anyone watch "Dating with the Dark" last night, July 27 ? Did anyone notice Jason's facial expression when the black girl he was dating in the dark was revealed? (Only we the TV viewers were privy to his visual first impression.) I'm not convinced he rejected her solely because her faith is very important to her. It did give him an "honorable" exit, and the other guys a cover to reject her out of hand. Quite suspiciously, her phenotype (light-skinned black girl) was brought up and discussed by the guys right after the first date, which was a group date. Did someone just flat out ask her on hearing her speak?

Now about those "larger" men, one of whom was "kind of Hispanic" looking? (Cape Verdean, perhaps?)

In other words, the cop was getting dressed down by some uppity negro with a PH.D. and because of it, decided to teach the negro "a lesson".

The nosy, scary old lady could have very well coded that 911 call so that the gist of what was being said would be heard without actually being said. "Kind of Hispanic"? That translates to "some nigger/spic".

"If the egotistical fuck kept running his mouth, I (I have been a Police Officer) would have made a bracketed arrest (tight cuffs, scruff of the neck grab) and “tiptoe” him into a cruiser."

Attitudes like these earn the Law Enforcement community no favors. Be thankful you don't have to attempt to arrest someone who not only has nothing to lose, but also has no qualms about killing you, if he can. The job is hard enough already without the various dicks in circulation -- adding to the "dickhead" mystique only compounds the problem.

Field I suggest a calling campaign. This officer according to Ms. Whalen lied in his report. Cops can't ignore the rules they don't like. These guys have got the whole country in an uproar over a falsified report.

They called a press conference to denigrate the President for having the nerve to criticize them.

It's time to turn the tables an let them know it will not stand. Contact the media or the Cambridge police and demand an investigation.

Lol, Field I stopped reading when you said: "Let's make one thing clear: The reason she felt a need to call 911 in the firt place is because she saw TWO BLACK MEN TRYING TO PUSH THEIR WAY INTO A HOUSE. PERIOD!"

Sometimes I can't tell if you're kidding or not. Are you going to seriously tell me that if I see two black men breaking into your house, I should either ignore it, or walk over to see if they need help?

I mean, there is racism in this country but I'd hope you could find better examples than this, and if you can't maybe we really have fulfilled "the Dream" after all.

If the woman hadn't called 9-1-1 and those blacks broke into Mr.Gates home and raped/robbed/or murdered him than field and other blacks who post here would be calling her racist for not callin' the police.She didn't care about her black neighbor.She would have been called a racist cracka.

If that same police officer would have assumed those 2 blacks lived there and the officer left than he would be called a racist .

Your racist if you do and racist if you don't.

Than blacks wonder why nobody wants to have a racial dialogue with them.

Uptownsteve - He was breaking in because he had been in China for a while and couldn't find his keys. Dude was on his way home from the airport.

I can picture myself in his shoes, as I travel regularly. I'm tired, been on the plane for hours. Go through Customs, get your bags finally, all that crap, only to get home and realize you can't find your keys.

I would be pissed off too! I think Gates probably would have been fine on a regular day, but the cops got him after this long trip. He was tired and I don't blame him.

"I'm up with a gentleman, says he resides here, but was uncooperative, but keep the cars coming." Keep the cars coming for what? A seasoned trained officer like Crowley needed help with an angry and upset citizen? Sounds like to me Sgt. Crowley was intending to arrest Dr. Gates and wanted witnesses.

I'm not a Harvard Professor, but they make these neat little devices called "Key Holders" just for that annoying moment when you can't find your regular key... Yeah I know, the Ni.. I mean underclass know all the hiding places, that's why I put them someplace they'll never look, like behind a book...Ha Ha, just kiding, I bury em, sorta like John Wayne Gacy did, except its just key boxes and not little kids... and I'll bury a bunch of empty ones, so the minorities with a work ethic will have a tougher time... Sure, I probably look more suspicious digging holes all over my yard than Professor Gates did kicking down his own door, but I'm White, so the Cops don't bother me anyway...

Perhaps for the older woman who first witness Gates and the driver on the porch, race was probably in her consciousness. Lucia Whalen called 911 for the older woman, and did not identify by race, but their behavior. She called them gentlemen and did not mention race until 911 dispatcher asked. Onerous is still on the police department.

She really could not give them a clear description of the first man and could not give a description of the second person (Gates). I think the dispatcher placed the call to the patrol car and mentioned race. Whalen that there were suitcases on the porch which I think she did have some doubt if anyone was trying to break into the house. However, giving how old people, the elderly woman was probably would not stop until Whalen called 911. I think she had some doubt because sounded as if she did.

I did not think the police had any follow-through, and went on the assumption that the two men were black. I guess, the police thought that the release of the 911would clear up the matter and benefit them, but it does not. It was more beneficial for the woman who called and Dr. Gates.

I'm sorry, Bsweet, but that was just plain ignorant. If you have the keys to your back door, why don't you have them for your front door? Most folks I know, especially high-brow, men like Gates, the same key fits the front door, as the back. After all, door locks are only made to keep honest people out...(learned that from when I used to be a locksmith)

Come to think of it, where is the report that showed That Gates's front door was "burglarized", to give him & his driver so much trouble? That's what started all this crap.

The other thing too, is that if it was me, lil ole Wendy Whitebread, I would have knocked on the neighbor's door and asked for help, or else called family members repeatedly on my cell phone bitching about how I can't get in.

I'm gonna say that's the difference between the white/black experience here. Just curious as to what others on here would have done? Would you knock on neighbor's doors asking for help? Or is that just totally asking for trouble?

I guess I have it good, and I think you all should have it good too. I am going to say, why don't we all get to know our neighbors better in case this happens again? Or is that ignorant too? That's not my place to answer, so I will wait for your response.

I wouldn't recognize my neighbors, cause they're ASIAN and you know how they all look the same...Just Kidding, best neighborhood I've ever lived in, nobody lets their Dogs run free if you NOME SANE??? And those annoying Jehovah's Witnesses stopped comin around bout the 3rd time a Jackie Chan lookalike greeted em with a 45 acp in their face.... Only crimes goin on here are environmental ones, I don't know what kind of animal "KimShee" is, but it smells like poo, and its none of my beeswax if my neighbor waxes his car with Endangered Elephant tusks...

Aw, Steve...I haven't seen her, but I think she's just a little old lady who lives alone, except for the three cats she prolly has, and thought she was being a good neighbor. She probably never comes out out of the house, except to take the trash/kitty poop out.

Hey, Steve, I hate cops. But like I said, if I'd smarted off to a cop where I live, I'd have been busted upside the head...or even worse. And don't think for a minute a Mississippi State Trooper or Sheriff won't give you a smack if you're white.

Sometimes, you should take,"you have the right to remain silent", and let your lawyer do the rest.

"Ms. Whalen still needs a "teachable moment" in my book."Young black males make up about 1/2 of 1% of the population of my city and about 90% of gun related crime. You need to teach your own people a thing or two first.If I was Ms Whalen I would never have gotten defensive in the first place. They were 2 black males... so if I had said it it would not have been racist but factually correct.You and other racism chasers are working overtime. Get a life. You decide something is racist that work your ass off to see everything in that light. She has nothing to apologize for. Unlike the 70% of black men who don't father their own children. Babydaddyism is the biggest threat to the wellbeing of african americans, not uppity white women.

Gates daughter said cops response should have been "I loved your PBS series Mr Gates!" WOW. Talk about entitled. She thinks cops are there to flatter her daddy and remind him he is a big deal. Apparently she doesn't know that 99% of Americans don't know who her daddy is. Apparently she travels in a small priveledged universe. She needs a kick in the ass far more than Ms Whalen, and since she is half white I guess blacks folks would be willing to give her a half kick.

Mr Field you are as wrong as two left shoes about Ms Whalen. Now the Cop, that is another story, it is clear he lied in his report. I wonder what do you think about people (yea, us black folks) that see crime in our community and turn the other way out of fear or just not caring.

Field, you are way too invested in your preferred narrative, in which every white person there was a noose-carrying racist. The reality was a lot messier all the way around.

You know, there's enough actual blunt racism in this country to make it unnecessary to invent it when it didn't exist.

Gates shouldn't have been arrested, but I don't think this was what you are portraying it to be. This is especially true of the woman who called 911. I think it's abusive and unfair to slap the "racist" label on her.twedsh

Ms Whalen did nothing wrong. And considering that there were two black males involved nothing was inncorrect either.But to show my solidarity with FN and other blacks who are heaping the abuse on those white women who were concerned a black man's house was being burlagized......today I was walking past a house 4 doors down from where I live, saw 2 young black men seemingly break in the back door. But who knows? The people who live there are black and maybe they just got locked out. I minded my own business. No 911 calls by this white woman- hell no. I pledge FN ,never to call the police if I see a crime in which the victim might be black. Apparently it is the only way to avoid getting bit by perpetual racism chasers.

"These guys have got the whole country in an uproar over a falsified report."The facts on the report were correct- there were two black man trying to break in.The while coutry isn't in an uproar over a falisified report. Black folks are just going apeshit over nothing- business as usual.

For the people who asked why he wasn't known by his neighbors? His neighbor (the elderly white woman who alerted Ms Whalen) had lived there for all of a f-ing week. Stop this lynch mob people. If you were as furious about black violence as white racism there would be a lot less white racists.

i will reserve my empathy exclusively for afrocentric and authentic black men who are actually publicly executed by police daily

Even if Gates was a jerk to the cop, and even if he's inauthentic in your eyes, I still don't see why he needed to be arrested. That said, I do understand why your sympathy might be somewhat attenuated.

I think the incorrect indication that she saw '2 black men' should be removed from the original post. It is just wrong, she never said that and the tapes back her up.The cop lied in his police report, he should be reprimanded or fired. The Cambridge police have stated they are not doing an investigation. Someone needs to push for an investigation into the false police report.

field-you've lost it on this issue,99 encounters between poice and minorities could be racial but the 100th one may not be-this is the 100th one.Gates was indignant he was being questioned in his own house and he assumed it was racial.He lost his cool and maybe the cop did also.It is as simple as black and white which is sometimes very complex but i don't think so this time.

Oriface Crow's report says that Gates got on the phone, and to me, it sounded like Gates was calling the police chief, where is that tape?

Also, if Gates was created such a disturbance, why would the police allow the spectators to congregate, wouldn't they tell people to stay back or something?

I also think Lucia is lying as well, I would not be surprised if there is some kind of connection and that this was her being vindictive, or she was acting on behalf of someone who wanted to get back at Gates. Police always ask for a description, saying she didn't know in broad daylight, that is too smelly of a fish to swallow.

One other thing in the police report, Crow says he "began" to give his name, which to me, means he wasn't giving his name, he knew he was going have a complaint filed, and that is probably why Gates got arrested, Crow was protecting his own ass from a complaint.

"Ok class, here's the scenario for today. A black man was arrested while breaking into his home. He acted rashly and the arresting officer even more so. Now go, and I want each of you to speculate wildly about the motives of each person involved - don't forget seemingly obviously innocent characters such as the neighbor, the other cops, etc. The wilder your scenarios, the better the grade. Oh and one last thing: you will each grade each other's papers, and I'd like you to shred anyone else's 'creativity' using thoughtful (if not narrow) logic, but defend your own with thoughtless cliche and shallow dismissals."

I wanna know what they got on sistergirl (the black policewoman). To me they made her say that shit! And her statement that the Cambridge police would not stand behind any cop who had done wrong is totally bullshit. I read the NY Daily News and all those cops cover for each other and there's been some shit going down in NYC because of the cops. She probably be promoted soon.

"Talk about entitled. She thinks cops are there to flatter her daddy and remind him he is a big deal. Apparently she doesn't know that 99% of Americans don't know who her daddy is. Apparently she travels in a small priveledged universe. She needs a kick in the ass far more than Ms Whalen, and since she is half white I guess blacks folks would be willing to give her a half kick."

My home is owned by Harvard University, and so any kind of repair work that’s needed, Harvard will come and do it. I called this person, and she was, in fact, on the line while all of this was going on.

I’m saying ‘You need to send someone to fix my lock.’ All of a sudden, there was a policeman on my porch. And I thought, ‘This is strange.’ So I went over to the front porch still holding the phone, and I said ‘Officer, can I help you?’ And he said, ‘Would you step outside onto the porch.’

And I said to him no, out of instinct. I said, ‘No, I will not.’

He said ‘I’m here to investigate a 911 call for breaking and entering into this house.’

And I said ‘That’s ridiculous because this happens to be my house. And I’m a Harvard professor.’

He says ‘Can you prove that you’re a Harvard professor?’

I said yes, I turned and closed the front door to the kitchen where I’d left my wallet, and I got out my Harvard ID and my Massachusetts driver’s license which includes my address and I handed them to him. And he’s sitting there looking at them.

I don't tend to believe that the lady was doing anything but calling in a possible break in. I don't know her so she could be a sneaky racist bitch so i will not argue that point.

What I do know is that the cops came into my mom's house after I was reported breaking in (30 years ago). They came in with guns drawn. Had me lie down on the floor, and handcuffed me though I stated I lived there. My mother came home about that time and identified me as her son. I cooperated with the police completely and though I know they wanted an arrest someone they had no cause.

I was neither mad at my neighbor because they were protecting my parents property, or mad at the police because they were doing the same...though I wish we could have skipped the floor and the cuffs.

Nah, she wouldn't have known the Professor prior to this, because he only had this many articles wrote in the Harvard Alumni Magazine she works for, which I cut, copy, and pasted from the magazine's search page which is showing how many articles Gates has written in it.

John Harvard's Journal, November-December 1998Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., director of the Du Bois Institute for Afro-Ameri-can Research, spoke of how antiwar and civil-rights protesters in the ...harvardmagazine.com/1998/11/jhj.html

Off the Shelf | Harvard Magazine September-October 2003Professor Henry Louis Gates opines: "From Thomas A. Dorsey and gospel to Sam Cooke and the classic age of boogaloo ('soul') to George Clinton and hip hop, ...harvardmagazine.com/2003/09/off-the-shelf.html

Annan: Troubling NewsAfter the interview, Annan visited the Fogg Art Museum, had lunch at Up Stairs at the Pudding, toured the Barker Center with Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. ...harvardmagazine.com/1998/11/jhj.annan.html

Off the Shelf | Harvard Magazine January-February 2007This accessible book is part of the Issues of Our Time series edited by Fletcher University Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. In book-jacket endorsements, ...harvardmagazine.com/2007/01/off-the-shelf.html

Cambridge 02138Intellectuals across the political spectrum--from Professor Henry Louis Gates to Shelby Steele to William Bennett--have given our book a wonderful thumbs- ...harvardmagazine.com/1997/09/02138.html

"People Who Look like You" | Harvard Magazine January-February 2004According to Du Bois professor of the humanities Henry Louis Gates Jr. (visiting Cambridge for the weekend from a sabbatical in Princeton), the distinction ...harvardmagazine.com/2004/01/people-who-look-like-you.html

Brevia | Harvard Magazine March-April 2002Henry Louis Gates Jr., DuBois professor of the humanities and chair of the department of Afro-American studies, will deliver the National Endowment for the ...harvardmagazine.com/2002/03/brevia.html

Lucia Whalen is not an old woman either, she is 40 years old. Nevertheless, what is the name of the elderly woman she supposedly was calling in behalf of? No mention of her name anywhere, nor does it seem like it was asked either.

If the woman hadn't called 9-1-1 and those blacks broke into Mr.Gates home and raped/robbed/or murdered him than field and other blacks who post here would be calling her racist for not callin' the police.She didn't care about her black neighbor.She would have been called a racist cracka.

If that same police officer would have assumed those 2 blacks lived there and the officer left than he would be called a racist.

Your racist if you do and racist if you don't.

Than blacks wonder why nobody wants to have a racial dialogue with them.

Why don't we conclude that this could have been racist but there are not enough clear facts either way. The participants have agreed to make amends. This could be just one of those instances where the fight is just not worth fighting, or it is just a comedy of errors. Those involved seem that they would just like it to be over with. Case closed for me.

Whites wonder why Blacks get so angry. Because whites want to stay in denial, pretend that their own could never do anything like that, it's always the black guy, and they always make up excuses for their own when they do something wrong but they want to crucify a black person if they do something.

It doesn't hurt to admit one of your own was wrong sometimes. I mean its not like y'all have a patent on being upright citizens. We have blacks, hispanics, Asians, Indians, etc. that are upright citizens too. That man had to take a mug shot for being in his own home. I would be upset too if a police came to my house, I showed him ID and he arrests me. The cop ought to be glad it wasn't me, because he would be in for the fight of his life.

First of all, I did not mention a word about this being racism. I felt like it was an ego trip. As far as Missy Ann is concerned, she is just a sneaky busybody who likes to throw a rock and hide her hand.

bsweet you wrote asking:"Would you knock on neighbor's doors asking for help? Or is that just totally asking for trouble?"

WTF, i am sorry, but what do you mean by that question, do you mean to say that Black people NEVER call the police, or do you mean that Black neighbors would just be more trouble?

Bsweet, my sister used to work in Brooklyn, Bedford & Farraget Ave, I used to visit her by subway train, if you ever been there, then you probably know I was only white person on the train, I NEVER EVER, felt uneasy or unwelcome, the only time I can think of where I felt nervous was downtown Brooklyn at NIGHT. Maybe I am just naive, but I been too many places where I was treated with respect, kindness, and human love.

However, I'm personally more interested in the facts as well as THE DISCREPANCY too, but I'm also interested in piecing all the facts together. FACTS is what I want to see and talk about. Not racism, because we already know that exist, it's not a big secret in America, the whole wide world knows about America's racism problem.

Blacks have been put in a damned if you do, damned if you don't box, since they were brought over here on a ship from Africa. We've had to work twice as hard to prove ourselves and apparently that still doesn't do any good or mean anything. Did you ever think of that?

The professor showed his ID to the police officer, and winded up arrested, with a mugshot, being called a racist, and smeared behind a false police report and to top it off, now they calling the President a racist. Now, I consider those a damned if you do, and damned if you don't moments too because it was unnecessary and beyond what was reasonable. However, you can't see that. Why?

good ol Field! Still sticking up for the white woman marrying, white neighborhood living, Skippy! How many posts now have you done about this guy? How many did you do on Dunbar Village? Always sticking to the patriarchal script where all the victims are black males and all the bad guys are white males. Anything to keep the attention off the ever worsening situation for black women and children in the so-called "black community."

I read a great post on another blog that sums up guys like Skippy pretty well: "Anyone with half a brain can see that Black men want to BE WM. Because they associate WM and whiteness with POWER. And they associate BW and blackness with WEAKNESS. So, since they can't be WM, they at least can be with the WM's mother (WW) which in their twisted minds is the next best thing."

Skippy was so mad at this policeman because of what he reminded him of: He's not really white!

In the first place what was the purpose of Lucia Whalen calling the police if she noticed the luggage and the key? Not too many burglars show up with keys. If she noticed all of that she noticed that big limousine sitting out front too and that's the bottom line. So she shouldn't have called in the first place.

Second, why would she need a lawyer, if she was only doing what a citizen is supposed to do?

Third, why does her and Crowley's story differ? And on top of that her lawyer came out and said that Whalen said the the police was lying.

Professor Gates got rewarded a mug shot and police record for being in his own house. While Crowley is being looked upon as some hero and Whalen is being protected. Wow!

Blacks have been put in a damned if you do, damned if you don't box, since they were brought over here on a ship from Africa. We've had to work twice as hard to prove ourselves and apparently that still doesn't do any good or mean anything. Did you ever think of that?

Yes I have. And have you ever thought of the idea that two wrongs don't make a right? Are we really condemned to 400 or 4,000 years of payback? Because if we are, the end result is pure ugliness.

The professor showed his ID to the police officer, and winded up arrested, with a mugshot, being called a racist, and smeared behind a false police report and to top it off, now they calling the President a racist. Now, I consider those a damned if you do, and damned if you don't moments too because it was unnecessary and beyond what was reasonable. However, you can't see that. Why?

I have written over and over and over and over again that I think the cop overreacted to whatever Gates said to him, and that the arrest was wrong. Why can't you see that?

Oh please! I used to live in a predominantly white neighborhood before. I wasn't there a good two weeks before I got to get an eye full. First incident, a white man was holding hostage some kids in a creek, the police had to kill him. Second incident, a robbery, and they killed the store owner. Third incident, a standoff with the police in another hostage type situation. Fourth incident, someone murdered a man's wife. I could go on and on.

As for the statement you made about Field, "Always sticking to the patriarchal script where all the victims are black males and all the bad guys are white males" That right there let me know that you really don't know Field good, because that is straight up a LIE!

See, your problem is that you want to keep the spotlight on the black community so to enforce that belief that ALL blacks are bad people and criminally inclined. While you paint an image of all of white folks is angels we do no wrong.

I got news for you, whites, blacks, hispanics, asians, and every other race there is has good and bad and the same thing that goes on in the black neighborhoods goes on in theirs. They just keep theirs hush, hush.

You just don't want to hear about y'alls problems, because you'd rather keep the focus on others to keep them from taking a good look at y'all's mess too. You don't fool me with your smokescreens and distractions. I'm too old a cat to be fooled by a kitten.

I don't know where you get that are we to be condemned from back 400 years mess. First of all, I'm not dealing with 400 years ago, because I'm not that old. I live in this present time of 2009 and that is what concerns me.

I can read, I know that you said that the cop overreacted and he shouldn't have arrested Gates. I am posting my thoughts to the whole room and I am not singling you out, nor have I ignored what you said. Stop taking every single word I type and my thoughts on the matter personal! I'm speaking in general and pointing out facts that I see in the whole incident between the officer, gates, and Whalen; why I think it is something wrong with the whole picture. Do you understand what I am saying now?

You missed my point completely Granny. My point is that black women are second class citizens in the black community. Black women give their all to defend a black man that couldn't even marry in his race, despite the fact that their is a PLETHORA of available sisters. Why is it always about black men? Why do people not want to know about the ever worsening situation for BLACK WOMEN in BLACK CONSTRUCTS?

I apologize, baby for misunderstanding you. However, I have to say this WOMEN period are treated like second class citizens, it's not just us, baby. Men have always considered it just their world. We've had to fight for our rights throughout the years as well, and I'm speaking about women as a whole. You think it's bad now, it was worse than this. We have made some small strives, but not much.

You'd be surprise, if you ever were to have a conversation with women of other races. They have practically and go through the same problems we face, except their men aren't marrying outside their race as much as our black men do. I understand what you're saying and how you feel too. There is a men shortage in the black community in the first place and for those ones that are available to marry outside their race does piss a Sistah off because it's like adding insult to injury. And yes, black women have always been the backbone of black men and they don't seem to show their gratitude for that at all. In fact, there was usually a black woman behind a successful black man. Some have helped a black man to get on their feet and that black man turned around and got with another woman. Granny could go on and on about this subject as well. In fact, I plan to do a topic on men and women's relationships real soon.

So again, I apologize to you, baby. Granny is just a little upset with all of things going on around us today in this crazy mixed up world.

Stop taking every single word I type and my thoughts on the matter personal! I'm speaking in general and pointing out facts that I see in the whole incident between the officer, gates, and Whalen; why I think it is something wrong with the whole picture. Do you understand what I am saying now?

I was responding to a comment that you addressed specifically to me, by name.

omg u really are a white supremacist, i usually skip ur posts, but this one, fucking takes the cake, bitch.

Do you deny that the CEOs of Fannie Mae and Merrill during the height of the real estate bubble were black, "bitch?" Would you like me to give you the specific links, "bitch?" Or does being you mean that facts don't count, "bitch?"

"Come on down to Mississippi. Brown, black, white, yellow, or rainbow, you'll get a stick upside your head if you try that shit."

Kinda proud of this, are ya?

That's why we keep advocating for secession for certain states that believe that the Constitution and the Bill of Rights makes a mockery of "billy-club justice."

We believe that officers should use "hang'em high" when you catch'em, and forget about'em law enforcement, without proper jurisprudence, whenever possible--we just don't think they should be part of the Union that's all.

Well, B.D., there is theory and there is reality. Gates shouldn't have been arrested for saying whatever he said. But the daily reality is that it's probably not a real smart idea for anyone to give a police officer a ration of shit.

I wouldn't do it, and in the eyes of most people here I am the epitome of white privilege, squirting my way through life without a care in the world. But you know, I just wouldn't run my mouth at a police officer.

Call me what you will, but it's not a life-enhancing idea in my book to go there. And you know what? That has served me pretty damn well for all these decades. There have been a couple exceptions, the most notable being the black cop who decided to fuck with me for jaywalking across a deserted street at 6:15 a.m. I didn't talk back to him, but it didn't matter.

But I lived. I don't think Gates should've been arrested, but I also suspect quite strongly that if he'd handled it the way I'd have handled it, he wouldn't have been arrested, his blackness notwithstanding.

Grinder, I worked the brokerage house world, did u forget that or something? U sound just like the white shits who LOVE to blame Black token CEO's on the stock market crash. See, it's too easy, put a Black man in as the CEO, then do what you want, fuck your average invester, and sit back and laugh.

"good ol Field! Still sticking up for the white woman marrying, white neighborhood living, Skippy! How many posts now have you done about this guy? How many did you do on Dunbar Village? Always sticking to the patriarchal script where all the victims are black males and all the bad guys are white males. Anything to keep the attention off the ever worsening situation for black women and children in the so-called "black community."

Never mind that post folks, I think that was my ex. :(

Granny, you are so kind. Me, on the other hand, I am pretty much calling them BOTH racist!

You've bought into that FoxNews foolishness that laid the whole damn thing at the feet of minorities.

Oh no I haven't. I am not, not, NOT among those who think the Community Reinvestment Act is responsible for the real estate bubble. I comment on the Internet in a bunch of places under a bunch of signons, and I've been voiciferous against that particular accusation.

This wasn't just a subprime issue, and even the subprime issue wasn't much of a CRA issue. This was not a matter of black folks being given easy loans, and then the whole economy collapsing. That was not my point.

My point was much narrower: that there were some megabonus grabbing black men too. Nothing more than that. It's absolutely true that most of the megabonuses went to white men, but it's also true about Merrill and Fannie Mae.

Grinder, just about every agency or bank in the US invested in those derivatives, they all went bankrupt, you LOVE to blame Black CEO's, but the question I always learned, the question to ASK, is this:WHO PROFITS?

Grinder, I worked the brokerage house world, did u forget that or something? U sound just like the white shits who LOVE to blame Black token CEO's on the stock market crash. See, it's too easy, put a Black man in as the CEO, then do what you want, fuck your average invester, and sit back and laugh.

Listen, "bitch," I didn't blame black people, "bitch." I wrote that the CEOs of Merrill and Fannie Mae were black, "bitch." And you called me a white supremacist and a "bitch" for pointing it out, "bitch."

Now, "bitch," are you going to apologize? Or am I going to keep calling you "bitch" every time we talk, "bitch?" Because you know what, "bitch?" I can take it, but I can also dish it out, "bitch."

grinder said... "Well, B.D., there is theory and there is reality. Gates shouldn't have been arrested for saying whatever he said. But the daily reality is that it's probably not a real smart idea for anyone to give a police officer a ration of shit."

Democracy is both theoretical and practical, too.

It's democratic when I exercise my right to vote, or serve on a jury, or pay my taxes on income, and every other thing imaginable: property, utilities, sales, and investments.

But it suddenly becomes fascist when I mouth off to a cop?

If cops wish to behave fascistly, fine, just don't pay them with my tax dollars, and give me the means to fight back--a couple of six-shooters on my side will do.

I have a reasonable expectation to be treated humanely, and according to the legal system in play, if I'm paying out my hard-earned money for it, dont'cha think?

"But I lived. I don't think Gates should've been arrested, but I also suspect quite strongly that if he'd handled it the way I'd have handled it, he wouldn't have been arrested, his blackness notwithstanding."

Grinder, there u go again, trying to make comparisons, placing blame on the victim, oh if only Gates didn't get mad for being so tired from his long flight from China, having his door key not work, having bronchial infection, having his "neighbor" call the police, having a white cop who probably wouldn't give his name when asked, watching as a group of police and onlookers surrounded his home, gee, i guess you probably could just laugh about it the next day.

B.D. it's not "fascist" to mouth off to a cop. It's just not a real brilliant move in the real world. And that does for white people, too. Believe it or not (and a lot of people here probably won't), there isn't some secret brotherhood of white people where the cops let you off the hook just because you're white.

Cops hate to be disrespected. I think it goes with the job. You're right, you ought to be able to argue with a cop. But I really don't think it's a great idea in practice. And that's pretty much true wherever you go, or so said a white friend of mine who told me about the German cop who tossed him down a flight of stairs while handcuffed because he'd argued about being arrested for drunkenness at Oktoberfest in Munich.

Now, to the other issue. Franklin Raines, CEO of Fannie Mae, cooked the books there and looted the joint for $91 million in bonuses between 1999 and 2004. Not bad work if you can get it, especially when there was an implicit (made explicit in '08) federal government guarantee of Fannie's bonds.

Stanley O'Neal, who was president (not CEO -- my error) of Merrill is the guy who steered that company into subprime loans that eventually destroyed the company. He walked away with a $161.5 million golden parachute in 2007.

Grinder, there u go again, trying to make comparisons, placing blame on the victim, oh if only Gates didn't get mad for being so tired from his long flight from China, having his door key not work, having bronchial infection, having his "neighbor" call the police, having a white cop who probably wouldn't give his name when asked, watching as a group of police and onlookers surrounded his home, gee, i guess you probably could just laugh about it the next day.

I don't think Gates should have been arrested. The cop overreacted. But I don't think this was Dr. Gates's most brilliant moment, either. It's not very smart to argue with a cop, even if you are a Harvard professor.

In fact, now that I've pissed you off let me turn the knife. Dr. Gates is in the elite. I don't know how much money he makes but I'm going to take a wild-ass guess that he is in the top 1% of the pile.

In America, we tend not to ask too much of our rich. They can generally do pretty damn much whatever they please, that incident notwithstanding. Personally, and this is just me, I think that one of the unstated obligations of being in that position is that you ought to wear it well. You know, class and civility. After all, generally speaking someone in that bracket doesn't have too many wolves at the door.

It doesn't appear that ol' Henry wore it too well. For the umpteenth time, that was no reason to arrest him. The cop was wrong to do that. But it's hard to cry really big crocodile tears for the man, because I don't think he was wearing it too well that night.

If you want to rush to the barricades, do it for the black paramedic put in a choke hold on the way to the hospital by a racist Texas highway patrolman. I'll be right there with you. But for Henry Louis Gates? Not so fast.

B.D., Fannie Mae was as close to a government agency as you can get without it being one. Actually, now it pretty much is a government agency, but back then it was considered "private," but not fully "private" like, say, an investment bank. That's why Raines got "only" $91 million while O'Neal got a $161.5 million goodbye kiss, which I might add did not count whatever he was paid while in the job.

If $91 million is chicken feed, I'd be happy with a half a bucket of KFC.

Grinder, so now, you saying that because Gates was an elite, he should have just accepted his lot in life and just lay down like a dog to be treated like shit? lolol.

See, that is what u and a lot of white people don't get, if Gates was a white elite, nobody would have even called in the first place, all his neighors would have run out to help him and the po-lice would have helped him open the door. The police would just see him as an old man with a limp who couldn't get his door open, instead, they arrested him. See that is the double standard, Grinder, maybe Gates didn't even understand that point until now.

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